@wbrejnia
Please read the complete posting - solution comes near the bottom...
Original by wbrejnia:
** THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL with my FIRST TRIAL (Jlink Virutual Drive : Appendix C (BB Manual). **
************************************************** ***************************************
1) I tried the section in the BB manual (To create a VIRTUAL DRIVE) on the AMIGA FILE SYSTEM
I Properly run "ADISK" on the Amiga side.
Errmmm - you're confusing me.
"ADISK" s not mentioned in the Appendix C of the BB manual - just "JLink".
As far as I can see, "ADISK" is mentioned for first time in "APPENDIX E: INSTALLING AND USING A HARD DISK ON THE PC SIDE" at the bottom off page 71.
Original by wbrejnia:
I properly added DEVICE= JDISK.SYS into the MDOS Boot DISK CONFIG.SYS file.
It does load, since I even did a TYPO (Jbad.sys) and the Boot complains that file doesn't exist.
If I don't include that entry into CONFIG.SYS and run Jlink.exe (I get an error message saying (JDISK.SYS
not installed:)
Did you start "PCDisk" before running "Jlink.exe"?
As Appendix C on page 61 of the BB manual says:
"PCDisk
must be running in order for the JLink program to work."
To start "PCDisk", you have to
insert the "PC System Disk" into a 5.25 inch disk drive and
the "PC Workbench" diskette (apparently this is the one 3.5 inch floppy disk containing the
Bridgeboard "PClnstall" program, delivered with the BB) into the Amiga's 3.5 inch internal disk drive
before running the "JLink" program, according to Appendix C on page 61 of the BB manual. Open the PC
drawer on the Workbench, and double-click on the "PCDisk" icon.
At this point, page 7 of the English manual might be interesting:
2. INSTALLING THE BRIDGEBOARD HARDWARE (page 7)
MAKE SURE you received the following items in the Bridge board box:
...
· One 3.5 inch floppy disk containing the Bridgeboard "PClnstall" program*
. * NOTE: In some countries you may receive a "special PC Workbench disk" in place
. of (or in addition to) the Install disk listed here. In this case you will not need to go through the
. process of installing the PC software on a copy of your Workbench disk, as described in Chapter 3.
. However, you will find Chapter 3 useful if you want to create a personalized "PC Workbench" disk for
. some special use.
· Three 5.25 inch floppy disks containing MS-DOS System Software, GWBASIC and other special software
for use with the Bridgeboard
...Do you have this "special PC Workbench disk"? (important to know)
(The term "PC Workbench disk" is misleading and confuses me each time, as there exists nothing like a
"PC Workbench". In our daily use of the language we normally refer to a "PC" (x86 IBM compatible
computer) when we say "M$-Dos" or "Windows" today, while the term "Workbench" is linked to Amiga
computers.
To be clear, we should either say "PC disk", or "Amiga disk"...)
It will also be important to know which AmigaOS version (Workbench version) is used on the 3.5" floppy
disk from the Bridge board box, as it must correlate with the Kickstart version you're using.
On my system I always made a new boot disk for my HD each time I upgraded to a new Kickstart & Workbench
version. For this I booted the Amiga with the new WB, formatted an empty DD floppy disk as bootable and
copied over all the stuff from the OLD boot disk for my HD.
And I named the disks properly, e.g. "HD bootdisk 3.1" for use with Kickstart & OS (Workbench) version
3.1.
Original by wbrejnia:
But then running JLINK hang on any switch (ie JLINK e: RAM:vd /C:160). Even tried JLINK by itself which
should just list any VIRTUAL DRIVES. (160KB in minimal size, if you use 4 KB it complains)
Make sure that you start "PCDisk" before trying to run "Jlink.exe"! (see above)
Original by wbrejnia:
I thought the RAM drive might not have enough space so I tried a trick to test if communication between
PC and AMIGA is happening
I saw the manual also has a chapter about RAM expansion...
But I highly doubt you can find a 128
kB RAM expansion board for ISA slots nowadays...
(keep in mind your A2088XT cannot use more than 640 kB RAM and has 512 kB by standard, IIRC)
Original by wbrejnia:
1) I used notepad to CREATE a FILE on DF0: call "VM" full of text
OK...
Original by wbrejnia:
2) I ran the command ( JLINK DF0:VM )
Confusion again.
As you said a few lines up: "But then running JLINK hang on any switch" - did it work this time?
If not, possible reasons could be either that JLINK did not work (possibly "PCDisk" not started before?), or linking the file to a drive letter did not work.
The syntax of this command is as follows:
JLINK n: filename /sw
where
- "n" is the
virtual drive to use (letters A and B are reserved for physical floppy drives, C for physical harddrive. So chose D or beyond),
- "filename" is a standard Amiga path specifying a file (e.g. DH0:s/user-startup), and
- "sw" is one of the following switches:
/n -all messages suppressed except errors
/c:n -create that volume on Amiga side. Here, "n" is the size in kilobytes
/u - unlink that volume
/r -link read only (all write access will fail)
Note: If you do not specify a switch, "JLINK" will attempt to link to an existing file.
If the file does not exist, the link will be unsuccessful.
If you use /n with /c, existing volumes are deleted without any warnings.
Original by wbrejnia:
3A) According to the manual if the "VM" file exists on df0: then it should prompt you with (a question
if you want to continue)
Note: If you do not specify a switch, "JLINK" will attempt to link to an existing file. If the file does
not exist, the link will be unsuccessful.
Ah - I think now I understand what the issue is.
You created the "VM"-file with NotePad. But this is just a text file for the computer - not a "virtual drive"-file!
A real "virtual drive"-file is generated with the "JLINK n: filename /sw"-command!
You used "JLINK DF0:VM" - but it should have been e.g. "JLINK D: VM /c:100", where the "100" specifies the size of the "virtual drive"-file to 100 kB. German manual says that the default value for "n" is 32768 (32 mB). Keep in mind that the floppy disk in df0: has a maximum capacity of 880 kB on the Amiga side - so I doubt that higher values than 720 kB (max. size of PC DD floppy disks) make sense in this experiment...
The Germn manual furthermore says that you
MUST close the used virtual file (with
"JLINK D: VM /u") before switching off the computer!
The German manual also comes up with a nice idea:
Creating the virtual file in the Amigas RAM: disk with e.g. "JLINK D: RAM:PC_DRIVE_D /c:1024" (provided your Amiga has enough RAM, e.g. more than 1.5 mB)!
Original by wbrejnia:
3B) But no PROMPT
3C) And no activity on DRIVE LED
In the face of the above explained things I`m not surprised...
Original by wbrejnia:
...
Dandy, If you have a Sidecar then can you try this an see if it works for you?
...
Nope.
Don`t have a "siecar" - I just had an 80286 HW add-on that plugged into the CPU socket of the A500.
B.T.W. - as far as I remember, the "Sidecar" originally was an external expansion for the Amiga 1000.
Today I use my towered A4000 with CyberstormPPC accelerator, Mediator PCI busboard with Voodoo4 graphics card, Terratec soundcard and 100 mBit network interface card. It has broadband access and is networked with a WIntel box (core i5 quadcore).
To access the PC from the Amiga I use a registered copy of Darren Eveland`s little program "RDesktop".
To access the Amiga from the PC, you can either use "Samba", or just "smbfs" (SaMBa File System ) - I use the latter.
Works like a charm - no slow bridgeboard required...
Original by wbrejnia:
...
I have no idea why this doesn't work, or what I could do to fix.
...
But I had - see above...
;-)
